I know, I know, it’s a little late for halloween-related art, but Gourdon stole my heart and ran away with it. In case you don’t know: with the latest expansion to Guild Wars 2, Path of Fire, Arenanet added a new NPC race called Choya. They are little, spiky and fat cacti that cannot really talk (besides “Puka”) and sometimes, they are hostile, sometimes they are not. They are kinda ugly, but in a cute way. You can see some pictures and read a description on the Guild Wars 2 wiki if you like. Gourdon in particular first appeared in the Halloween event as a participant of a little race around the labyrinth. He wore a carved pumpkin as a costume, it was too cute.

Now he’s back for Wintersday (Christmas in GW2) and I can only imagine how he came to wear costumes for racing. Maybe he got chased around and mistaken for a hostile monster? How did he even end up in the Mad King’s Labyrinth? Did he sneak onto a boat heading for Lion’s Arch, got chased around more (no wonder he is good at the races) and eventually landed in a pumpkin and noticed that people now see him different?

Keep on running, you fat little cactus. But I want my heart back at some point, you don’t need to steal it, you already won it back in the labyrinth.

I originally intended to make a colored version of this little comic, but I’m way too lazy right now.

So, between the comic pages I sometimes draw and scribble something here and there. And sometimes, I make some small artworks out of the sketches (mostly when an idea doesn’t want to get out of my head). The same thing happened with this one (may be spoilerish if you play Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire, so read at your own risk):

At the end of the story, after dying and coming back from the dead, you fight the god of fire and war to safe the world. While fighting a really tough and eventful battle, this conversation drops and it feels just epic. I loved the comeback. Unfortunately, your character shows no injuries… you know… fighting a god and all that… coming back from the dead and getting another shot to prove one’s worth… so I drew it a little more dramatic. (Yeah, I know, he’s not standing, don’t take it literally)

Also, I used it to test out ClipStudio Paint. Usually I do all the work in Photoshop, but it’s getting pretty hungry on my tablet, like you can hear the tablet coughing while Photoshop is running. ClipStudio is a bit easier on the hardware, but it’s lacking some features I love in Photoshop…